Tigers fans are pushing back on ridiculous discussion about their contender status

Sometimes people have a hard time recalibrating expectations. For the baseball world outside of Michigan, it can be a tough pill to swallow that the Detroit Tigers are one of baseball's elite teams because the expectation entering the season was that they hadn't quite yet arrived.

Yet here we are on Father's Day, and the Tigers have a commanding lead in the AL Central and own the best record in the American League. After a dark period of mediocrity under former general manager Al Avila, the Tigers took steps forward in the previous two seasons, before making a huge leap into true contender status in 2025.

Yet, not all are convinced. Particularly ridiculous is this Chris Rose Sports take that the Houston Astros, of all teams, could overtake the Tigers as the best team in the American League. Yes, those Houston Astros, the team that lost key foundational pieces in Alex Bregman and Kyle Tucker over the offseason.

The criticism of the Tigers is that they are a young team, and therefore will fall off down the stretch due to lack of experience; however, couldn't the same be said for Houston? After all, Justin Verlander isn't leading their rotation anymore, and instead, the ace down in Space City is Hunter Brown, a pitcher who has never reached these heights before.

Houston's lineup isn't all that formidable either, ranking 19th in the league in runs scored through June 14 with 290. Detroit, on the other hand, ranks sixth with 347 runs scored.

Detroit Tigers need to be taken serious as World Series contenders

Years of picking at the top of the draft have finally started paying off for the Tigers as youngsters like Spencer Torkleson, Riley Greene, Casey Mize, and others have begun to realize their potential and break out.

It should be no surprise then that the team is rising to the top of the league now that these players who have oozed potential for years are beginning to realize it and become true difference makers. But it's not just the youth that is making the difference for Detroit.

The club also has some veteran leadership to rely on. The rejuvenated Javy Baez knows a thing or two about being the upstart young team who finds itself in the thick of contention, snapping the Curse of the Billy Goat in 2016 with the Chicago Cubs as a 23-year-old alongside other then-youngsters Kris Bryant and Anthony Rizzo.

On the pitching side of things, Jack Flaherty is back after winning a World Series just last season with the Dodgers while veteran relief ace Tommy Kahnle has a wealth of postseason experience with 30 career playoff innings and a 3.00 ERA under his belt during his stints with the Yankees and Dodgers.

The core of the team certainly skews towards the younger side, this is true. However, with key veteran contributors in support roles, a more apt description of where the Tigers stand is as true contenders and one of the very best teams in either league.

Of course, there will be ebbs and flows over the marathon 162-game season. However, that caveat applies to even the most veteran-laden squads, and rather than looking at the Tigers' youth as a detriment, it should be looked at as a strength. These talented youngsters are hungry, and without the mileage of a lengthy MLB career weighing on their bodies, they'll likely stay fresh longer than their competition as they look to make a deep October run.

But most of all ... the Astros argument is crazy. They've been trending downward for years now. The Tigers eliminated them from the playoffs last year and have proven in 2025 that their late-season 2024 run was no fluke. Time to take them seriously. They've earned it.